Programme Director

Pastor

Kgosi Thaganyane

Tribal Council Members

Executive Mayor of John Taolo Gaetsewe District Municipality, Me Sophia Mosokatsi

Mayor of Joe Morolong Municipality Me Dineo Leutlwetse

Councilors Present

Municipal Manager of Joe Morolong Municipality and Former District Director of Social Development, Mr Tebogo Tlaolwe

Chairperson of Remoggo Sewing Coop, M Annekie Seimelo

Officials of the Department of Social Development

Esteemed guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

 

 

 

Dumelang

 

Ke sa Ntlha ke tla mo Cassel mm eke itumetse ebile ke lebogela gonna hano. Ke tlile fa gompieno ke tliseditse batho ba motse o dikgang tse di monate.

 

(It is my first time visiting Cassel and I am Humbled and honoured to spend the time with you. I come here today to bring the beloved and valued people of this village some good news).

 

Thank you for joining us here in Cassel where we as the Department of Social Development celebrate another milestone in the delivery of services to our communities. With the launch of the Remoggo Sewing Cooperative and also the establishment of offices here today sees yet another chapter in the Northern Cape Governments commitment to uplift communities being written.

The overarching strategic objective of the ANC led democratic government is to change the lives of all South Africans for the better. In other words, we must give freedom and democracy meaning for ordinary and poor South Africans.  Of particular significance for us is that government can only achieve this objective by working with every section of the society, especially the recipients of government’s developmental intervention programmes - the disadvantaged black majority.

Dit is my wens dat dat die daarstelling van hierdie sentrum die gemeenskap sal aanwakker en aanspoor om self verantwoordelikheid te neem vir hul ontwikkeling. In kort is dit die Regering se doel om kapasiteit in gemeenskappe te kweek sodat ons minder steun op Regering en self kan doen wat ons van die regering verwag. Ons as Regering is hier om hande met U te neem en ‘n beter Cassel tot stand te bring.

Kgosi Thaganyane, over the last years it has become clear to us that a new approach to community development is required to truly improve the lives of our people as envisaged in our Constitution.

Former President Nelson Mandela once said: “fundamental to the success of all our efforts at reconstruction and development is community action and participation”.

For this reason, we intensified the campaign to “Take Social Development to communities”, with particular focus on rural communities where the need for government services remains high.

As we launch this new site here today, we do so with the hope that it will bring us much closer to the attainment of our shared and common goal of making poverty history.

Ladies and gentlemen, community development requires passionate and knowledgeable people. In this regard, we will continue to train community development practitioners in areas of integrated development planning to ensure that social development services are not neglected at local municipal level.

The Department of Social development has many programmes and interventions to promote the ideal of responsible and healthy families. This initiative is but one of many that we, in collaboration with stakeholders, implemented. This is based on the major challenges as identified by the community, focusing on alcohol and drug abuse which leads to poor family interpersonal relations, poor school attendance, and challenging behaviour of children, child neglect, family violence and mismanagement of income.

 

Family preservation programmes such as Parenting Skills, Active Parenting of Teenagers, Relationship Strengthening Programmes and Behaviour Management, Ke Moja Programs will be intensified through this partnership with the people of Cassel.

 

Within the context of service delivery, as mandated by the different Departments and stakeholders, the main focus will be to strengthen and preserve families so as to enable them to rebuild their inner strength and to sustain their families.

 

The initiative seeks to address concerns raised by different sectors in the community with a clear focus on job creation opportunities for the War on Poverty beneficiaries as well as the community members.

 

We also commit, Kgosi Thaganyane, to work and form closer alliance with Traditional Leaders as it is my belief that traditional leaders in partnership with elected leaders play a vital leadership role in the development of our communities.

 

Sewing cooperatives can play a crucial role in the development of the rural sector, in promoting community-based enterprise development and greatly contribute to job creation and poverty reduction. Government views cooperatives as a viable alternative to formal employment and has invested considerable resources in capacitating communities to enable them to take advantage of locally available assets to exploit economic opportunities.

 

It is also one of the DSD mandates to ensure that cooperatives have access to markets and that they benefit from the state and private sector procurement opportunities. In line with government’s pronouncement on preferential procurement, the Department has facilitated the linkage of sewing cooperatives to economic opportunities through the SASSA School Uniform Coop Programme. The Remoggo Sewing Coop is one of the identified cooperatives that is linked to the SASSA School Uniform Coop Programme so as to tap into the job creation and income generation opportunities they offer.

 

Ons het vir die afgelope drie jaar meer as Sewe Hondred en Tagtig Duisend Rand in Cassel bele om te verseker dat die gemeenskap sekere vaardighede aanleer en ook om hulpmiddels te bekom om U werk te vergemaklik. Die nuutste sluit in die aankoop van ‘n voertuig wat die gemeenskap sal dien.

 

Ek wil dit baie duidelik maak dat hierdie gebou die eiendom bly van die Department van Maatskaplike Dienste wat aangekoop is ten bate van die gemeenskap. Geen person mag eienaarskap oor hierdie gebou eien nie. Ek wil U ook verseker dat geen person hierdie eiendom van U kan wegneem nie. Dit is my besluit sou dit nodig word om die gebou weg teneem. So U kan gerus wees dat U die gebruik het van die gebou vir solank as wat die Departement dit sal toelaat.

 

Bagaetsho lefelo le, lo le neelwa ke puso ee eteletsweng pele ke ANC.  Ke la lona, jaanong rea kopa ka tsweetswee le tlhokomeleng.  Le tla thusa batho ba Cassel le ba mafelo aa mabapi.  Le diriseng, gore le kgone go tlisa phetogo le tshepo go batho ba rona, a lefelo le, le gole ebile le thuse batho ba rona.

Kea itse ebile kea dumela gore le tla dira gore lefelo le le dule le sireletsegile ebile go tlile go tswa dilo tse dintle feela mo.

Kealeboga

 

(Ladies and gentlemen, this facility is donated to you by the ANC led government. It belongs to you and we ask that you take care of it. It is for the benifit of the people of Cassel and surrounding areas. Use it in a way that will bring change and hope to our people and let this facility grow and always serve the people.

 

I know that you will make sure that this place is always safe and I know that many good things will come from here.)

 

Thank you